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School district expands mental‑health and wellness work; teletherapy pilot and attendance liaisons highlighted
Summary
The district outlined student and staff wellness plans: adding positions over five years, expanding suicide‑prevention curriculum, pursuing a teletherapy partner via behavioral‑health grant funding, and continuing attendance‑liaison work that reduced chronic absenteeism at many schools.
Spotsylvania County Public Schools presented a multi‑strand update on student and staff wellness that included staffing counts, grant funding, preventative curricula, and near‑term pilot programs.
Josh Hurley, director of mental health and wellness, said the division currently employs about 13 school psychologists, 34 school social workers and 74 school counselors to serve roughly 24,000 students. The office has secured more than $685,000 in grant funding for school‑based mental‑health initiatives and used more than $500,000 in ‘all‑in’ funds to target chronic absenteeism. Hurley stressed that grant funds cannot be used to hire school‑based clinicians and that local budget authority will be required to add FTEs.
Current and planned initiatives include expanding the Signs of Suicide curriculum to grades 6–8 this year (with goals to cover grades 6–12 by next school year), procuring screening tools (Renaissance Fundamentals) for nonacademic barrier identification, piloting calming supplies at selected schools, and hiring attendance liaisons (the division reports 70% of schools with liaisons reduced chronic absenteeism by at least 2.5 percentage points).
Hurley said the division has been awarded Department of Behavioral Health grant funding and is finalizing vendor selection for a teletherapy partner to provide students and families with no‑cost teletherapy; parameters and implementation timing were described as being finalized with a likely start in fall (October–November). Holly Boone, director in human resources, described staff wellness offerings (Anthem virtual care, a diabetes management and medical weight‑management program, employee assistance program, and a wellness champion stipend funded by Anthem).
Board members pressed for clarity about how many positions remain unfilled vs how many new positions are needed. Hurley said most counseling vacancies are due to a shortage of qualified candidates and outlined “grow‑your‑own” options and adjunct partnerships with universities to develop local pipelines. The board identified adding FTEs and cohort/grow‑your‑own training as budget priorities for the coming cycle.
What happens next: the mental‑health office will finalize teletherapy vendor terms, present more detailed staffing needs as part of CIP/budget requests, and continue to use grant funds for curriculum and attendance interventions.
